


Touch but don't look

by Doralice



Series: Indecent Proposal [2]
Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Awkward Sexual Situations, Blindfolds, Cuddling & Snuggling, Erotic Games, F/M, It's Ben's turn, Masturbation, Mutual Pining, Porn with Feelings, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rey can touch but can't look, Slow Burn, The Force Ships It, Touching, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Voyeurism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-11-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:06:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27605330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Doralice/pseuds/Doralice
Summary: Sequel of 'Look but don't touch'.Seems like the Supreme Leader needs a sparring partner. And that's good, because now that Rey had translated all the jedi texts, they had to find another excuse to spending time together off the battlefield.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: Indecent Proposal [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1980523
Comments: 54
Kudos: 42
Collections: Ijustfellintothissendhelp





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Indecent Proposal](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/714467) by Doralice. 



Day Zero

The door of his quarters hissed open and Kylo swooped into the room like a black storm, not paying attention to anything in his path. The lights came on suddenly, lighting up the room and unleashing a chorus of cries. Kylo looked at the bed, remembering he had recently had guests.

“Welcome back Supreme Leader. Do you want to join us now?”

Some giggles and meows. Kylo rubbed his forehead. He had had a bad day, a very bad one. His head was killing him and his back was hurting from the tension. The last thing he wanted to do was argue with anyone. Least of all with three petty whores from Canto Bight.

“Get out of here.” He growled.

No reaction, except a few disappointed whines. Kylo frowned: he didn't like not being taken seriously. His thumb slipped on the lightsaber's power key and the sizzling noise of the blade made the three girls jump.

“ _Get. Out_.”

This time the message was received and the order executed very quickly. Kylo stared at the girls, grim and silent, until they left his quarters. When the door closed, finally leaving him alone, all of his tension deflated along with the lightsaber’s blade. He dropped the hilt to the ground and collapsed on the bed like a puppet.

The sheets smelled of cheap perfume and foreign sweat. Grimacing he rolled over on his back and covered his eyes with an arm.

What the kriff was going through his head the previous night? If he had spent those credits getting drunk, he would certainly have done everyone a favor. To himself, first of all, considering he would have spared to himself a series of humiliation.

First of all, the one of being beaten, for the umpteenth time in a row, by _her_.

It was like those months without fighting each other had had no effect on Rey. Indeed, her lightsaber skill had even increased: now she rivaled him and often she managed to win. So many times she had come very close to capturing him, and only the Stormtroopers backup had managed to prevent the Supreme Leader from falling into the hands of the Resistance, covering himself with shame in front of the galaxy.

But Kylo knew that Rey’s improvements weren’t the only ones to have the credit. That game they had played, that Kylo had crafted so carefully to gain control over her, had ended up backfiring. Now whenever they clashed on the battlefield he could picture her naked, but if he had thought that this would put her in disadvantage he had had to change his mind. Rey could really have fought completely naked, still the one who would end up laying open and getting screwed would be _him_.

The humiliation that he had suffered the previous night was more subtle, and the one and only to blame was himself – and his dull stupidity.

He hadn't been with a woman in months. Precisely, since Rey had turned down his offer and closed the Falcon tailgate on his face. Now, he could also have come to terms with the public humiliation of being beaten by her almost every time – if then at least in the privacy of his quarters he could let off steam as he pleased. But no, this wasn’t allowed to him. Not only he couldn’t have Rey, but his twisted brain kept him from being with other women. If Hux had known, he would have leached him forever.

But Kylo was as unstable as his lightsaber. The frustration had grown to the point of clashing with his own denial and that night he had made the resolution to take back that part of his life.

Or at least, he had tried.

He knew a brothel in Canto Bight: he had ordered a girl to be sent to him. As he meticulously described what he wanted, he felt the shame growing inside him, eating him alive. He had waited for the girl pretending to be totally calm, only to jump in his own skin when he heard a knock on the door.

She had walked in and he had immediately thought that she didn't look like _her_ at all. That she was wearing too much makeup. That her sweetish perfume bothered him. Then she pulled down her hood and Kylo wondered for a moment how dare she wear the same hairstyle that Rey wore when he met her in Takodana. Then he remembered: it was he who had asked for that hairstyle. It was he who had asked her to be naked except for the wraps on her arms. And when the girl undressed under his merciless gaze he found that they had taken him literally – they were professionals, aren’t they? And he was the Supreme Leader: no one can disappoint the Supreme Leader.

Kylo had ordered the girl to get on the bed and start without him. If he started watching, maybe there was some hope of recalling an erection. But with utmost frustration his body didn't seem to be willing to react. In other times that girl would have already been voiceless from screaming: what the hell was happening to him?

Oh kriff, _no_. Better not think. He already knew, didn’t he? He just wasn't ready to admit it.

 _Tell her to get on all fours_. – a sly voice whispered in the back of his head.

_If you take her from behind you can pretend it's her._

Kylo told her and nausea gripped his stomach. He got up and walked over to the bed, breath unsteady, sweaty hands opening and closing.

 _Tell her to pretend this is her first time, to beg you to be gentle_.

Kylo swallowed and inhaled hard.

_Tell her to cry that she loves you while you fuck her. Isn’t it what you want?_

Kylo must have yelled something to silence that voice, because the girl had turned and was now looking at him with frightened eyes.

“Call some friends.” He said abruptly.

She opened her mouth to reply something, but had struck her with a hard stare.

“And let your hair down.” He had ordered, turning away.

He had spent the rest of the night sitting in an armchair in the farthest and shadowed corner of his quarters, watching. Just watching.

‘You can only look, you can’t touch.’ – Rey’s chuckle resonated mercilessly in his mind, her mischievous dimples impressed on his memory like a curse.

And soon it was time to grab his lightsaber and go get his ass kicked by the Resistance's champion – one more time.

*

“Not the best time.”

Well, Rey had understood it long before his figure appeared, a few meters from her. The Force Bond was subtle and inexplicable, sometimes it conveyed flashes of emotions, memories, visions. They were barely reflections on the surface and could seldom be caught, but they were getting good at that too.

This time the bond had given Rey his repressed rage, fatigue, frustration. Nothing new from Ben, but she couldn't help but notice how that kind of serenity he had achieved in the previous months had gradually faded.

“I know.” She replied shrugging, “But it's not like I can do much about it.”

They looked at each other, aware that to some extent they were pawns in a game greater than themselves. It was exhausting at times. Both felt the urge to blow everything up and just get rid with the eternal antagonisms. Both were stubborn enough not to even consider the idea of giving in first.

“Were you training?” She said casually, just to break that eavy silence.

Ben nodded curtly and picked up his lightsaber again. Rey couldn’t see much of his surroundings, but anything that came within his range also appeared to her eyes. So she could glimpse the holograms programmed to be his sparring partners.

“Do you always train like that?”

Ben parried an attack and pierced the hologram, which vanished into the air with a low hum.

"Like what?” He grunted, rushing violently on the others.

“With more opponents.” Rey raised an eyebrow over the excess of holograms, “And all badly programmed.”

One of the holograms literally went beheaded. Rey saw its head roll to her feet and then vanish. She looked up at Ben again. He was watching her, his face tense, his hair falling sweaty and disheveled on his face, his chest rising in rapid breaths. A hologram appeared behind him: he spun the lightsaber and pierced him without turning, his eyes still fixed on her. Then he turned without a word and grabbed something.

Rey rolled her eyes.

“Such a show off.” She muttered. 

“I am sorry?”

“That was just a display of skill for its own sake. I’ve seen you do better.”

She thought that and he told him, because honesty was all they had left.

Ben snorted: “Oh yeah? When?”

“On the Finalizer.”

He stiffened. The bond between them quivers with tension. They had never talked about it, tacitly agreeing that it was a subject never to be brought up.

“Unfortunately it's an experience that cannot be repeated.” He retorted coldly, “Next time I'll be on the throne and our swords won't fight together.”

Ah yes. His hypertrophic dramatic side. It was fascinating – until it started to become boring.

“Also, you have very few Praetorians left to slice.” She pointed out.

Ben smothered a laugh, pretending to wipe his face with a towel. But the look they exchanged was different from the previous ones.

“The applications for enlistment among the Praetorians had a critical drop.” He feigned confusion, “I wonder _why_.”

Rey couldn't help but burst out giggling.

“To be used as a sharpener by the Supreme Leader should be considered an honor!” She added.

Ben laughed and Rey could feel something melt inside him, and between them.

“You know, you're making me look a fool in front of the whole galaxy.” He informed her, as if she weren’t already aware of the situation.

“It happens when you train the wrong way.” She teased him.

“While you, from your training of... um... two weeks? You know what the best way is.” He teased back, “Am I right?”

Rey stepped out until she stood in front of him, her hands on her hips and her gaze fierce.

“Unlike you, I have always had few resources and therefore I have been forced to make the most of them.” She said harshly, “Do you think I played the damsel in distress while the others were fighting for me too? I trained. Everyday. And as far as I can see, I did it better than you.”

Ben took the towel off his shoulders and threw it away with a sharp move. Rey sensed his anger, his genuine confusion. He didn't know what to feel. And she understood him. For a long time she herself had not come to terms with what life had put before her. She was just a scavenger with no training in the Force, but from the start she had been able to outwit him. She always did, and neither of them ever understood how. If it was an enigma to her, to him it must have been frustrating to an immeasurable degree. But at the same time, in Ben she saw pride for her steady progress. An inexplicable feeling, almost as if deep inside he understood... 

“Sooner or later I'll realize how you do it.” He warned her, “And it will be your end, scavenger.”

Rey felt her face broke into a smile. Ben clenched his jaw, fixing her with a look more intense than she expected. So he really didn't understand yet.

“But it's _you_ , you fool.” She said, softening a little, “It's thanks to you. Fighting you has made me who I am.”

His confusion was palpable, but Rey could see how those words were making their way into him, slowly leading him to understand.

“Well…” He sighed, lowering his head for a moment, “It seems that the apprentice has overtaken the master.”

There was a note of sadness in his voice, as if everything seemed lost to him.

“You never spared me anything, as a good master must do.” She said fondly.

She was really grateful to him and hoped to be able to pass it on. Ben peered into her eyes in silence, a spark making its way into the depths of his dark irises.

“Would you like to help your old, inept master?”

Well, this was unexpected. It involved too much humbleness on his part: what was behind it?

Rey narrowed her eyes: “Are you asking me to train with you?”

He nodded silently and waited for an answer. A wild idea began to make its way into her mind, perhaps the same one that had made Ben ask that question.

“Um... I don't see what's wrong with that. However,” She pretended to think about it for a moment, “It is well known: you can't get something without giving anything in return.”

Ben barely held back a smile and a new energy flowed between them. Here they are, the game was still open.

“All right.” He cleared his throat and solemnly made his proposal, “But you can only touch, you cannot look.”

  
  



	2. Chapter 2

Day One

“I think these are yours.”

Rey caught mid flight the object that he threw at her. They were her panties.

“About time!” She sighed, “You took it easy, huh?”

Kylo clasped his hands to the chest: “I proudly carry them next to my heart in each of our duels!”

Rey shook her head and laughed, a sound that filled him with delight.

“Wait…” She unfolded the fabric and raised it to the light, “Did you _wash_ them?”

“Yes?”

“And how did you justify women's panties in your clothes?"

Now, what was he supposed to answer? It seemed like a question made to start arguing.

“Do you think these are the first panties that end up here?”

“Oh my stars, _Ben_!”

She pouted, her cheeks tinged with red. _Adorable_.

“I'm fooling you!” He smirked, “You said you don't have many comforts?”

“Oh. Thanks.”

The pout was gone. His wish to tease her again, however, no.

“Also” He sighed, faking resignation, “I had to wash them _afterwards._ ”

“Ben Solo!” She screeched outraged, “What did you do?!”

Kylo barely held back a laugh. Stars, it was even too easy.

“What do you think I did?”

“You are disgusting!”

“And you are so easy to fool.”

Rey glared at him with eyes that screamed skepticism.

“Just tell me the truth.” She pressed, “I don't want to wear them, if you've done… _things_ with it.”

“The virtue of your panties is safe.” He declared emphatically.

She relaxed a bit. Just enough to give a worthy conclusion to that quarrel. He leaned over her, just close enough to be able to whisper in her ear.

“I just smelled them while I was touching myself.”

Kylo braced himself for her reaction, but Rey seemed transfixed at those words. The only signs of life: her unsteady breathing and a vein throbbing madly in her throat.

“You smell delicious, you know?” He added with a hoarse voice, he was playing with fire and he knew it, “I wonder if the taste is just as good.”

Rey raised a punch, which he promptly parried.

He gave her a sly smile: “I see you're ready to train.”

Red-faced, Rey freed herself from his grip with an annoyed grunt and called her lightsaber back. She lit it as soon as it reached her hand and assumed the engagement position.

Kylo thought she was gorgeous, she was perfect ⎼ and someday, oh, someday she would be _his_.

*

The established rules were few and simple. They had discussed them the time before, making it clear how that new deal it would work. After their previous deal they both felt navigated as two diplomats with decades of experience behind them, and had signed the agreement with a formal handshake, utterly incongruous with what they were planning to do.

First of all, they had discussed the ‘when’. When should Ben repay the help Rey offered him? It seemed logical to stop the training halfway, as it had been in the previous agreement, but they agreed that a good workout should never be interrupted. At the beginning, then, before starting to workout? No, Rey turned down the idea immediately: she wouldn't be able to train with him after ⎼ well, after whatever they would do. Only the end remained, but Ben was hesitant at the idea of being touched covered in sweat.

“I grew up in a desert.” She deadpanned, “Do you think I give a damn about a bit of sweat?”

Then, it was time to discuss ‘where’.

“So. What can I touch?”

Ben smirked at her, his dark eyes glinting with a very obvious ⎼ _very unhelpful_ ⎼ subtext.

“All.”

“ _All_? Really?” She had challenged him, reaching a hand towards his head, “Even the ears?”

He escaped her touch with a clumsy but still impressive agility considering his size.

“ _Except_ for the ears.” He had specified, his expression turned offended, “Those are off-limits.”

Rey chuckled. If only he could have seen how adorable where from her perspective.

“And you’d better don't put your hands in my pants.” He had warned her, “I am a gentleman, but I too have limits.”

She sighed, faking resignation: “Too bad! I was so curious to find out if the things they say about you are true.”

“What-?” His words were a bit strangled, “What do they say about me?”

Rey covered her mouth to muffle a giggle.

“You don't want to know.”

Ben stepped towards her: “Let me decide if I want it or not, mh?”

She raised her hands, as if to stop his charge.

“I'll just say that there are comparisons between your lightsaber and your... uh… _equipment_.”

Ben froze, his expression so painfully abashed. He had looked down and then at the hilt of his lightsaber. Rey wished she had a holocamera to capture forever his face.

“People are weird.” He muttered.

She nodded empathetically, stifling a hysterical giggle that tickled her throat. Then she cleared her throat, trying to get serious again.

“Other rules?”

Ben looked away, his expressive eyes turned pensive.

“Don't kiss me.”

Rey couldn’t breath, the air all sucked out from her lugs by those simple yet burdensome words.

“Don't do it, Rey. All right?”

He had been deadly serious. A part of her wanted to answer him with some spiteful joke, like ‘I’m not in the habit to kiss my hateful enemy’. But she knew it would be a lie ⎼ they both knew it. But above all, Rey believed that this time he didn't deserve it. Because for once Ben just opened himself to her, baring his vulnerability. And because, honestly, those words could very well have been spoken by her.

Now, after their first training together, Rey wiped away the sweat and looked up at him. He was already waiting for her, a black sash in his hands.

She walked over to Ben, thankful to blame their intense workout for her heart rate. She let him blindfold her. And the world became dark, the other senses sharpened in compensation.

Their asynchrone breaths, his presence so close she could feel his body’s heat, the thick smell of their sweat. It was intimate ⎼ almost obscene. That game was their own dance. A duel with multiple facets and implications, in which each time they pushed the thin line between what they viewed legitimate and what could never be.

“What do you want to touch?” She heard him ask in that velvet voice.

Rey took a deep breath.

“Your hands.” She whispered, unsure of her own voice.

The first thing she ever touched about him.

Ben's fingers brushed hers, inviting her, giving his permission. Rey took his big hand between his little ones. And she was grateful she couldn't see him.


	3. Chapter 3

Day Seven

They spoke little and did a lot. As if they wanted to compensate for the limitations of the previous deal.

They trained until they got so tired their muscles were sore. And Kylo had to admit it: it was much more useful to train with her  – a person of flesh and blood, an equal opponent  – than with those sophisticated holographic projections that the advanced technology of the First Order was able to provide.

Their lightsabers reacted in a unique way to those ‘long-distance’ clashes. Kylo felt his own even more unstable than usual. It seemed they were eager to actually touch each other. Just like their masters were, only they were too stubborn to admit it. But the lightsabers  – those couldn't lie. They were the mirror of their souls.

However, the opportunities for confrontation were certainly not lacking. In those few days they had already had the chance to duel live three times. And Rey was still slightly ahead of him, yet Kylo could already notice improvements in his technique.

In his immense presumption, he believed he had nothing more to learn in the art of the lightsaber. If only because he thought that there was no individual in the galaxy who could teach him anything. But once again, the scavenger had taught him a lesson: he was learning from her, just as she had learned from him. Uncle Luke would have been so proud: it was a form of balance, after all.

Much less balanced were the moments at the end of their training. Those, he was pretty sure his uncle wouldn't approve of them. Kylo did not lack the strict rules of coexistence applied back at the Jedi academy. Though to be honest, in the precarious situation he found himself now, he wasn't sure that situation was better.

Of all the places, that day Rey had chosen to explore his neck.

*

“Could you just stop moving, please?”

That was the third time she had asked him.

“You are tickling me.” Ben snapped.

He lied  – and  _ bad _ . Rey knew his tickle reaction and it definitely wasn't that.

“It's difficult with you squirming.” She pointed out.

Straddling him was the most comfortable position for what she wanted to do. But right now it was like trying to ride a nervous mount.

“I'm not  _ squirming _ .” He growled insulted, “This is the last time you have access to my neck.”

Rey snorted against his shoulder: “Too bad, I was starting to find it interesting.”

Her fingers traced hier hairline behind the nape. She felt him shiver and withdrew her hands.

“But I don't want to bother you.” She added shyly, “If you want to stop-”

“No.”

Rey bit her bottom lip. It wouldn't have been nice to point out how quickly he contradicted himself, would it? Mocking him now it would really have meant ending that exploration there, and Rey didn't want to. She liked it, just as much he liked it.

She raised her hands again, bringing them behind his neck. She stroked the skin, following the taut bands of muscles, down to the dimple in the middle of the collarbones. And then she went upwards, feeling his throat jumping up and down, and stopped under his chin. She scratched gently and Ben made a low rumble of appreciation that made her smile. He was such a big, spoiled cat.

Her fingers slid down, retracing the length of his neck. Almost by chance, Rey felt under her thumb the strong beating of the carotid artery. She decided to stop there, feeling it, picturing in her head how the pumped blood made the skin pulse. Now Rey wanted to take off that stupid blindfold and see with her own eyes. She didn't do it, though, just so as not to break the moment.

It was so calm and peaceful, almost unreal.

She wanted  _ more _ .

“May I-?”

“ _ Yes _ .”

Urgent, bordering on pleading. The throbbing under her fingers had increased dramatically. He didn't even know what he wanted to do, yet Rey had already his permission. Did he trust her that much?

Well, she showed him her boobs, didn’t she? But she pushed back that thought: it wasn’t the time to make comparisons. It was time to taste that skin.

Before she could run out of courage, she leaned over and pressed her lips against that spot full of life.

The artery throbbed furiously. Rey could only feel that. And Ben's scent, so strong now that her face was buried under his chin. She rubbed her mouth on his skin, enjoying the heat, the smell, the life that streamed quickly in those pulsations and between them.

A little further the skin was nicked by the scar left by the wound she had inflicted on him. Before she could realize what she was doing, Rey kissed that scar.

Ben stifled a whimper and shuddered hard. She felt a wave in the Force  – it invested them like a seaquake, leaving them shocked. Rey withdrew quickly, as if burned.

“Sorry.” She whispered.

And neither of them knew exactly what she was apologizing for. Whether for that ancient wound or for that kiss that wanted to heal it.

* * *

Day Twelve

“Are you sure you want to train today?”

Rey gave him a murdering look. It reminded him of how many of the quarrels between his parents began.

Both hotheads, in love like teenagers, ready to fight on every stupid trifles. Han was not tactful, he was able to transform a kindness into an offense. Leia didn't catch the nuances, or it would be better to say she  _ didn't want _ to catch them. They were so good at their job  – him at dealing with his fellow smugglers, the other at forging diplomatic deals with high galactic officials  – yet when they were together, just the two of them, they were unable to compromise.

Kylo must have taken from both of them his temper and his innate ability to screw everything up with the people he cared about. Snoke had done the rest, finding fertile ground to plagiarize his mind. It was already a big step forward that Kylo understood those things about himself, but to face them was another story.

“Every day brings a new battle.” Rey snarled at him, twirling her lightsaber with jittery,

“The First Order surely doesn’t have the kindness to wait for the cramps to give me respite before attacking a new target.”

Well, if his clumsy attempts to improve interpersonal relationships were received in that way, he was screwed. Let's be clear: Kylo believed her perfectly capable of fighting and kicking his ass even on the worst days of the month, with a cold and one arm tied behind her back. But real battle is one thing, training is quite another. On the battlefield you can take advantage of adrenalines: you have no choice and this gives you the necessary boost to tap into energies you didn't know you had. In training this benefit ceases: you know that there is no real enemy ready to cut your head off. Unless your captain is Phasma, that woman was sadistic even by Kylo’s standards.

“All right.”

He would give her a real reason to call him someone who had never spared her anything. Oh, he wouldn't really hurt her, of course. First, because he never meant to, even when they were facing each other on the battlefield. Second, because they just can’t do it. The Force Bond prevent any accident between them. Like that one time when Rey's blue blade had grazed him: the fabric of his undershirt had torn, but his skin had remained intact. The Force was protecting them from their clumsiness.

“On guard, Knight of Ren!”

Kylo didn't react right away, which he knew would send Rey into a rage. He let her attack, and predictably it was a disaster. He then counterattacked, taking her completely by surprise and putting her in serious trouble with a barrage of swings. Rey lost her balance and fell to the ground. Kylo pinned her, crushing her wrist under the heavy sole of his shoe and forcing her to let go of the hilt. Rey growled in frustration and started to get up, but he pointed the blade to her throat.

For a moment they stared hard at each other. Then Kylo stepped back and offered her his hand to stand up. She slapped it away and called her lightsaber back.

Such a stubborn apprentice... 

Before she could grab the weapon again, Kylo caught her arm and folded it behind her back. He did the same with the other arm and forced her to kneel. Rey squirmed under his grip, but he didn't give in.

Finally she had no choice but to let go, exhausted.

It had been easy, even  _ too _ easy. He wasn’t even using the Force, just his body strength. Is this what she really needed? To surrender? To have the chance to give up?

*

“I know how you feel. You don't want to seem weak. You grew up alone, in spite of everything. For you it is a point of pride.”

His voice was caressing as he said those merciless things to her and he still held her down, bent in that submissive position. Forced to listen to the wise voice of the master.

“You don't want to think you need someone. You can't afford it.”

Rey didn't quite understand how she felt, she didn't want to stop and think. She can bear to feel it, but she can't bear to  _ elaborate _ . Though something told her it wasn't her period to blame for what she was feeling. That distress had something to do with their training and the results on Ben’s skills. He had hoped to improve and he was succeeding: her advantage over him, which she had so painstakingly acquired, was already fading.

She wanted to be his equal, at least in that, but it seemed her efforts could easily be brushed off.

“That's what I feel too, Rey. Every time you beat me on the battlefield. But that's what we are, isn't it? We are warriors, this is how we dialogue.”

_ This is how we love. _

Ben said nothing more, there was no need. He was speaking for both of them and he had given voice to everything, even to the things that could not be spoken. The loneliness, first imposed and then bitterly chosen. The fear of being abandoned again, of letting go, of loving again, of being loved again. All of this and more.

Ben’s grip loosened, only to become a hug. He sat on the ground behind her and carried her in his lap, wrapping her in his big embrace, placing a warm palm gently on her belly. As they had done months before, yet in such a different way.

Rey felt the heat of his body radiate everywhere, invade her, lulling her along with his calm breath. She closed her eyes and moved in his hold, curling up even more, making herself small. Showing a fragility that she didn't believe belonged to her, because she was too scared of it.

They stayed like this for a long moment, silently holding each other and listening to their breaths. Next to them, their lightsabers were laying on the ground, unlit. No training for today. No war. They needed a truce.

“Can we stay like this forever?”

She had spoken softly, as if afraid to voice that request. Ben held her close and buried his face in her hair, sighing deeply.

“I'd give you the galaxy, if only you wanted to.” He whispered.

“Just you. I just want you.”


End file.
